Month

The fun part of 2011 ended; earnest resolutions, trades of the yr, hopes and dreams for good things to come. World got back to business. US GDP was soft. Timmy G announced, “It’s not an expansion that’s going to offer a rapid decline in unemployment.” US budget deficit’s on track for $1.5trln, the $14.29trln debt ceiling approaches, Fed balance sheet’s $2.43trln (triple ’08 level), and S&P warned they’re eyeing o

American’s are simple creatures. We love underdogs, work hard & innovate, get easily whipped up into righteous frenzy, quickly start fights, frame our battles in good vs evil, and expect to always win. The Cold War was scary, but suited us perfectly. Naturally we won. Then after a decade of celebration, partly funded by the peace dividend, things got confusing. As global military/economic hyper-power, we lost our

Hope all goes well. What a week. Mara and the kiddies had the stomach bug, vomited night after night. Of course mkts caught it too and puked on Fri. Almost feels like late-Jan ’10, when a new-year rally got infected by that awful Greek virus. Now it’s Egypt, caught it from Tunisia. Something nasty and contagious is swirling around the Med. Overall: The fun part of 2011 ended; earnest resolutions, trades of the yr, ho

In the market’s never-ending race, it’s fascinating to watch relay batons passed from one year to the next. This wk the 2010 fear that PIIGS would sink and the EU disintegrate was passed to a new concern, the threat of higher global interest rates (strong statements by Merkel, Sarkozy and Trichet, combined with confidence the EFSF will be preemptively doubled, led to an upgrade by traders/strategists for the Euro’s i

Hope all goes well. Great trip to London/Paris. Packed planes, hopping cities and rising prices. London tabloids, radio and tube chatter are dominated by “unchecked” inflation. Seems that Mayfair hedge fund managers are the only altruistic citizens not hiking prices in London. Overall: In the market’s never-ending race, it’s fascinating to watch relay batons passed from one year to the next. This wk the 2010 fear tha

20yrs ago I crossed paths with a brilliant contemporary, figured we were headed in different directions. How naïve. We liked playing games: his mortal, mine money. But the older you get, the more you discover that lives and cash are fungible in the game of global politics/economics. As a young man, he earned a PhD that made Defense Ministers want him, then developed the experience, poise and rolodex that made aerospa

What a show! Leaders lined up with the kinda enthusiasm usually found at a Radio City Rockette audition. Germany’s Merkel, legs kickin’ high, “We support whatever is needed to support the Euro.” France’s Sarky, arm locked with Angela, “With Ms. Merkel, we will reinforce EU economic integration.” ECB’s Trichet, flashing a petticoat made from E98bln of newly purchased peripheral debt, said the stability fund should be

Hope all goes well. Interesting wk and a prelude to the coming year of push & pull between mkts and politicians. Not easy to trade that kinda action, but when the elected boys get involved, they waste all kinds of money. Hope to pick some of it up. I’m off to London and Paris. Overall: What a show! Leaders lined up with the kinda enthusiasm usually found at a Radio City Rockette audition. Germany’s Merkel, legs k

Pretty much everything I learned about climbing mountains, I learned from Vincent Ravanel. He’s 7th generation high altitude mountain guide from Argentiere, France. And from father to son, the Ravanel’s passed a simple mantra: “The Mountain never ends.” And like most things profound, it touches on something universal and fundamental. Cause climbing mountains, physical and metaphorical, is what

Perry’s a baseball fanatic. And it’s springtime, so when the NY closing bell rings, he trades his Bloomberg for a bat and ball. Hops in a Ford 150, tunes into baseball talk-radio, hits the diamond. Perry fell in love at age 6, “By 8 I was coaching my coach – drove him nuts.” And sure, plenty of kids fall in love early, marry a team – but Perry’s got no favorite, couldn’t care less who wins, who loses. That’s the trad